What Microsoft is retiring
Microsoft says it reviews its Applied Skills scenarios and certifications against current skills and technologies, retiring assessments it considers no longer relevant. The current schedule includes the MS-102 Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert exam, listed for retirement on November 30, 2026.
The Applied Skills schedule includes assessments involving Copilot Studio agents, Azure AI Language, Power Apps and Dataverse, Microsoft Fabric, Azure AI Search, Azure OpenAI and Semantic Kernel. Listed retirement dates range across 2026, including January 30, April 15, May 28, June 30 and July 8. Microsoft explicitly says the information is subject to change.
What retirement changes for candidates
After the applicable retirement date, candidates cannot take the exam or assessment lab or earn its associated certification or credential. A credential already earned remains on the person’s Microsoft Learn transcript, so the record of past attainment is retained even though the assessment is no longer available.
Renewal requires separate attention. Microsoft recommends that eligible candidates renew before retirement because renewal will not be available afterward. For eligible Microsoft Partner credentials earned before retirement, Microsoft says points or credit continue for one year after the retirement date. It also notes that new certifications or Applied Skills credentials may be added to Partner Program requirements.
The enterprise planning question
The practical decision is whether a specific employee should pursue the retiring assessment now or transition to another qualification route. That decision depends on preparation time, renewal eligibility, the role’s capability requirements and any Partner Program dependency. The Microsoft page does not say that a replacement credential has identical coverage, nor does it define when a retired credential becomes unacceptable for an employer or audit.
Credential systems should therefore distinguish an earned historical credential from an assessment that remains available and from a renewal route that has closed. That supports more careful interpretation of certification records, but a transcript entry alone should not be treated as proof of current role readiness unless the enterprise has made that an explicit business rule.
This explanation draws on Exam and assessment lab retirement. The evidence limits and publication history remain below.
